Absent, foaled in 1952 and winner of three Olympic medals. Photographer unknown

Excerpt: This summer marks 52 years since one of the most unusual horses first competed at the Summer Olympics in Rome. Absent, a striking black Akhal Teke stallion with four white socks and a star, introduced the world to a little-known ancient breed when he won a gold medal in dressage for the Soviet Union. He returned to the Olympics two more times for an individual bronze medal in 1964 and a team gold medal in 1968, both in dressage.(more…)

What a busy month! I’ve been working on a variety of design projects for marketing clients, doing fun things with my kids, reading a ton of books, researching for ilovehorses.net, and continuing to develop a new book project. You’ll see new articles here soon.

Iceland and its horses seem like a world apart from what we’re used to in the U.S., but surprisingly, Iceland is only about a six-hour flight from New York City — much less than the time it takes to fly from New York to London.

Icelandics are a tough breed that have survived inhospitable weather and famines for over 1,000 years. Photo by Sela Yair

What makes Iceland different? Most of the country’s native population is descended from Scandinavian settlers in the 9th century AD who had to survive on an isolated island with an inhospitable climate, volcanic eruptions that caused great famines, and multiple epidemics that wiped out large parts of the population.(more…)

orses come in all kinds of colors and patterns, and even the most experienced horse enthusiasts will occasionally come across something so unusual that it stumps them. (Thank goodness for DNA testing.) But there are some basic rules of coat color genetics that you can always count on. If you have additional ones to share, please comment at the bottom of the article.

Grey: A dominant gene, grey will always express itself over other color genes if a horse inherits the grey gene. It’s not possible for a horse to carry a recessive (and therefore unexpressed) grey gene, so all grey horses have at least one grey parent.

Some horses are homozygous grey, meaning they carry two grey genes and can only pass grey on to their offspring. Since grey is dominant over other colors, a homozygous grey will always produce or sire grey offspring. Homozygous greys can be found in Lipizzans and Arabians, among other breeds.

The Budweiser Clydesdales are one of those rare icons from the equine world that the non-horse public understands and appreciates. When Anheuser Busch‘s new corporate owner, InBev of Brazil and Belgium, decided not to run a half-time commercial featuring the Clydesdales in the 2010 SuperBowl, fans spoke out and the company changed its position, running a Clydesdale ad later in the game.

The Clydesdales became a part of Budweiser history when August Busch, Jr. gave…

>> Download the complete 700-word article for Kindle to learn more about how Budweiser has made the Clydesdale the most popular draft breed in the U.S. The Kindle ebook article includes 7 full color photos of Clydesdales, their homeland, and the Black Forest Draft breed, as well as links to resources and videos.